Washing-machine



mo Model.)

M. NATIONS.

WASHING MACHINE.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAURICE NATIONS, OF CAMP POINT, ILLINOIS.

WASHING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,079, dated September 20, 1887.

Application filed March 26, 1887. Serial No. 232,545.

' the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of washing-machines in which the water, saturated with soap or other cleansing material, is drawn forcibly through the fabrics to be cleansed; and the novelty thereof consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts to produce, when the Washer is properly operated, a most powerful suction.

In order that the construction and operation of my improved washer may be clearly understood and the advantages thereof fully appreciated, I illustrate the same in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view thereof. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the upper cups, showing in dotted lines the extremes of motion of the handle. Fig. 3 is a section on the line :20 x of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the device.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A designates the handle of the washer, stepped at the lower end in sockets a a on the upper side of the base-plate B, and O O are cups secured on the under side of the said plate, with the lower ends thereof open. These cups 0 are preferably four in number, disposed in the form of a square, with the cups 0 on one side and the cups 0* on the other side, so that by means of the handle A the washer may be tipped over in one direction on the edges of the cups 0 and then in the opposite direction on the outer edges of the cups 0 D D represent cups placed on the upper side of the base-plate and provided with airtight covers, the cup D being situated on the side of the plate to which are secured the cups 0 and the cup D being secured to the opposite side.

G is a short tube or pipe passing at opposite ends through openings in the sides of the cups D D and provided at the ends with the valves H H respectively, adapted to open inwardly when pressure is applied from without.

I is an opening in the lower side of the pipe (N0 model.)

G, between the cups D D fora purpose to be explained.

K are small openings or short pipes adapted to establish a direct communication bet-ween the cups 0 and the cup D through the plate B, and K are similar passages between the cups 0 and the cup D as will be readily understood.

The cups D D are preferably made sufficiently wide to slightly overlap the ends of the lower cups, 0 O and O 0 respectively, and the passages K K are made by simply forming openings in the base-plate, as seen in the drawings.

The operation of my invention is as follows: An ordinary tub or other receptacle is filled with water saturated with soap or similar cleanser, and the washer is immersed therein on top of the clothes to be cleaned, and oper ated by moving the upper end of the handle A from side to side, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, care being taken that the lower ends of the cups 0 do not at any time rise above the surface of the water. The cups 0 being full, or nearly so, of water, and the handles vertical, the action is as follows: The upper end of the handle is swung toward the end of the dotted are marked P in Fig. 2, and the valve H being held closed by the pressure from without, there is a partial vacuum created in the cups D O O, causing the soap saturated water to be drawn forcibly through the fabrics in the tub to fill the same. \Vhen the handle has reached the extreme of motion and begins to return, the valve H is opened by the pressure of the water in the said cups to allow said water to escape through the opening I in the pipe G, and when thehandle, having passed the vertical, approaches the end of the are marked Pthe operation already described with relation to the cups 0 D takes place in the cups 0 D Thus, as the handle is swung from one end of the arc to the other, a continued suction is maintained, properly and rapidly cleaning the fabrics in the tub.

The manner of operating the washer is very simple, and it is made very light and easy to handle, and the construction being extremely simple it may be cheaply manufactured, thus combining all of the requisites of a good washing-machine.

I am aware that previous to this time washing-inachines have been made in which the feature of forcibly drawing the water through the clothes is used,and I therefore do not claim this,broadly. 5 Iam also aware that heretofore cups having open lower ends have been used in connection with washing-machines; but in none is the arrangement and operation the same as in my washer. In one case-United States Patent 1 o No. 130,168-theinventorusesthe cupsorcells; but he forms them all communicating with a central space with openings or vents on the outside, and in operating the machine he raises the entire body out of the water at each I 5 stroke; also, in this case the object is to force air through the fabrics to be cleaned,while in my invention water is designed to be forcibly drawn theret'hrough. Further, the operation "of the machine described in the case citedi is much more difficult than in the machine herein shown and described, in that theformer must be lifted bodily out of the water in the tub at each stroke,while the latter is simply rolled or rocked from side to side with no weightwhatever to lift. Also,in United States Patent No. 340,418 the patentee adapts the device to draw water through the clothes; but to accomplish this he uses cylinders having piston-heads working therein and a frameon 0 which to support the lever to operate the piston-rods to move the said heads, thus making use of a series of mechanical means which are very liable to be put outof order and rendered inoperative in consequence of the rough usage which such articles usually receive from those the said lower cups, and the tube or pipe G beg tween the said upper cups, having the valves H H at the opposite ends thereof, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, in a washing-machine, of the handle A, base-plate B, lower cups, *0 0, having open lower ends, upper air-tight cups, D D, having openings K K between the upper and lower cups, tube G between the cups D D, and valves H Hat opposite ends thereofiopening inwardly, the pipe G provided with perforations'l between the-cups D D, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto atfixed'my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MAURICE NATIONS.

Witnesses:

IVIOEDGER PULLUM, GUY WILLIAMS. 

